As the year draws to a close, we take a look at which women managed firsts in their fields.

It’s clear that renowned painter and sculptor Kartika Affandi, who just turned 85 in November, has been boisterously independent for all eight decades of her life.

Charlie McMillan is no ordinary city official -- he's only seven months old and a new face of the anti-abortion movement in America.

Norwegian author Ari Behn, who was previously married to the country's Princess Maertha Louise,  died on Wednesday aged 47, his manager told AFP, saying he had committed suicide.

Allee Willis, who wrote the theme song for the hit television show "Friends," has died at age 72, her partner Prudence Fenton announced Wednesday.

One of Bollywood's leading directors called on three superstar actors to break their silence about a new citizenship law that has triggered riots in India, saying they could influence millions of fans.

After a torrid 2019 in which the queen's son Prince Andrew was implicated in an underage sex abuse scandal, many in Britain are again asking if the monarchy has gotten too big -- and rich -- for its own good.

Britain's Prince Philip, 98, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, is "all right" in hospital where he has been under observation for three days, his son Prince Charles said on Monday.

On the outskirts of suburban Jakarta, housewife Dita Agusta lives with more than 250 cats she has taken in off the streets, creating a shelter for the animals she hopes will one day be adopted.

French fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro, who described himself as a "sensual obsessive", has died in Paris at the age of 86, his family told AFP on Sunday.

In a short online video, a Chinese man with a round face and a buzz cut pops open a beer cap with a single chopstick.

When a 9.1-magnitude quake opened a faultline deep beneath the Indian Ocean, it triggered a tsunami as high as 17.4 meters (57 feet), killing more than 230,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and nine other countries.

American actress Rosanna Arquette spoke to The Jakarta Post about her activism, being involved in the new Untouchable documentary and Harvey Weinstein.

Prince Philip, the 98-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II, went into hospital on Friday for precautionary treatment on a pre-existing condition, Buckingham Palace said.

A group of Indonesian students has won silver and bronze medals at the 2019 International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) in Doha, Qatar.

What makes scientist Intan Suci Nurhati, the only Indonesian chosen as one of National Geographic’s 40 Women of Impact, truly happy is encouraging young people to understand and love science.

Film actor Idris Elba has arrived in his father's native Sierra Leone for the first time, the government said, where he is due to receive citizenship and celebrate Christmas with the president.

Eight-year-old Ryan Kaji earned $26 million in 2019 on his YouTube channel, making him the highest-paid creator on the platform, according to a list published Wednesday by Forbes magazine.

Suni’s love for jamu is not one driven by business opportunity, but rather accumulated as she grew up. 

ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus has gifted books to high school students across Sweden to try to stem the flow of fake news.

YouTube star PewDiePie (real name: Felix Kjellberg) revealed he will be taking a break from the video streaming platform next year.

Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg will be the subject of a new documentary at Hulu.

Japanese scientist Akira Yoshino returned home on Sunday after receiving the Nobel Prize in chemistry at a ceremony in Sweden, saying his time there "passed in a flash."

Danish-French actress Anna Karina, muse of New Wave director Jean-Paul Godard, has died of cancer at the age of 79, her agent told AFP on Sunday.

Jamaica's Toni-Ann Singh was crowned as Miss World 2019 on Saturday and said she wanted to use her title to work for "sustainable change" for women and their children.

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg urged young people in Italy on Friday to seize the next decade to fight climate change, and chastised world leaders for acting "as if there is no tomorrow".

Taylor Swift renewed her criticism of private equity, calling out the Carlyle Group and the Soros family for helping her nemesis Scooter Braun purchase the rights to her old music.

Former US first lady Michelle Obama on Thursday urged girls to resist the "impostor syndrome" she had felt on the way up and fight men for power, saying plenty of them didn't deserve it

Film director Roman Polanski has spoken out for the first time since another woman accused him of rape, declaring that the media are "trying to make me into a monster".

Kosovo declared Peter Handke a 'persona non grata' on Wednesday in the latest protest against his induction as a Nobel literature laureate, barring the Austrian writer from a place he has visited numerous times.